TJ Martinez: Sideline to sideline, a look at the happenings in the NFL

TJ Martinez

Tuesday

Sep 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2009 at 5:20 PM

Former Giant Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison last Tuesday for shooting himself in the thigh with a unlicensed handgun. That’s right, two years for shooting himself. My feelings about Burress have changed since he shot himself in a Manhattan night club last November.

Ex-Giant Plaxico Burress was sentenced to two years in prison last Tuesday for shooting himself in the thigh with a unlicensed handgun. That’s right, two years for shooting himself.

My feelings about Burress have changed since he shot himself in a Manhattan night club last November. At first I thought “if you feel you need to bring a gun to go out in public, you probably shouldn’t be there in the first place.” I still believe that for the most part but, seriously, two years?!

Donte Stallworth killed a man while he was drunk and behind the wheel of his vehicle in March. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison and released after 24 days.

Can someone tell me what’s wrong with that?

I’ll be the first to call Burress an idiot, and yes, he needs to go to prison, but not for two years. Burress career is likely over; he’ll be 34 years old at the end of his sentence, two years removed from the game. He'll likely face disciplinary action from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Then again, the Eagles might call -- they signed Michael Vick.

Speaking of Vick, he made his Eagles debut Sunday after being out of the league for the last two years. Vick was on the field for 11 plays, mostly out of the wildcat formation. He didn’t complete either of his two pass attempts and ran for seven yards. I know it’s only his first game back after two years, but I wonder why the Eagles would want to sign him in the first place. The guy has so much baggage and has never been very good to begin with.

Yeah, he’s the only quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, but that was years ago. I think this is an experiment that will blow up in the Eagles’ face. Vick has a career 53.7 completion percentage; does anyone really think he’s going to become a quality NFL quarterback? Kudos to the Eagles for not only alienating your fans but also your franchise quarterback, Donovan McNabb.

Since we’re on the subject of inaccurate quarterbacks, we have to talk about Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell. Russell has a 39.8 QB rating after the first three games of the season. He has completed 41.3 percent of his passes so far this season and makes even the most routine throws look incredibly difficult. If I were the Raiders, I would call Jeff Garcia the second after the Eagles cut him and tell him, “the starting job is yours, we made a terrible mistake by cutting you in the preseason.” If Garcia doesn’t come back, then I’d start journeyman back-up Bruce Gradkowski -- he can’t do any worse than Russell.

The Denver Broncos are coming off a win over the Raiders and are one of only seven teams to start the season 3-0, but I wouldn’t get too excited if I were a Broncos fan. The Broncos have a ridiculously tough stretch of games against Dallas, New England, San Diego, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. I don’t know where a win comes out of those five games, but this is a rebuilding year for the Broncos and they seem to be ahead of schedule even after all the offseason turmoil.

Kudos to the Detroit Lions. The Lions won their first game since Dec. 23, 2007. Personally, I have grown quite fond of watching a team lose in historical fashion so I’m looking to Eric Mangini and the Cleveland Browns to lose in historical fashion. The Lions fell seven games short of tying the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 26-game losing streak.

I truly believe if the Browns put their collective minds towards tying the Bucs' losing streak they can achieve it … you’re at nine and counting.

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